What are the characteristics of a blown shock/strut. I have heard that when they blow, it just is bouncy, and looses it's resistance. I've ridden in cars that they said that had blown shocks, but rode very rough (siezed).

 

bouncy, lots of noise when hitting bumps, feels like u'll lose control when taking a turn...if the struts get bad enough, ur car will make noise if u jus sit down on the seat

 

Your car will sound and feel like it's going to fall apart. Ride is really rough and make a horrible noise when you turn.

 

so the strut/shocks themselves are breakin down and everything inside is banging around...hmmm.

 

usually accompanied by a tunking, but not always, very bouncy in the rear if a rear is blown. Very harsh and uneven if a front is blown.

 

mine are blown I think



or leaking

only 40k on stock springs

 

Yeah, along with that, check to see if there is any oil leaking out. Also, if you disassemble the strut, if the initial stroke of the piston goes down easily, you have a blown strut. What happens in that case is there is air in the strut. I bought a set of used Koni's from an Maxima.org and one of them is really blown
hopefully I can get this one replace by Koni. In my case, the person who had the struts before me bottomed out serverely and all the heat from from that left a burn mark on the shaft and melted the seal. No more seal, air and oil comes in and out of the strut.

 

Too bad bout that, definately see if they will set you up with a new strut via waranty.

costcowholesale: wish I could help ya, but I don't know too much about shocks/struts.

Lime, Cumalot, MaximaPower..thanx for the input. I will have to look out for those symptoms.

The reason I am asking is I have access to another set of used oem shocks and struts from a friend that I helped out, and is willing to give me. Myself, along with most of my department just got laid off from our job, so I don't have a good cash flow coming in right now. I have some H&R's that are just crying to be put on, and was tempting with the thought of riding with oem's, with another set as a backup.

This goes against my grain as a "tuner". I never half-azz anything I do to my car. Well, maybe I just answered my own question...and wait til I get some $ for a new set of shocks/struts. But let me tell you, it sure is tempting.